


On the Day After

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Series: on the day... [2]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Organa Family Feels, the skywalker family tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-22 17:25:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11972127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: Vader has many questions, and only one place to turn for answers.





	On the Day After

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to "On the Day Before" and probably doesn't make sense if you haven't read that one first.

Vader looks over the plans he's spent the night making and lets out an unsatisfied grunt. He still has too many questions, and too much anger to safely face Padmé's daughter-- _his_ daughter--to get the answers he craves.

But Alderaan is no further away than Coruscant while the ship is in hyperspace; it's easy enough to order the Devastator to revert to real space and change course. He's been trying to catch Bail Organa out for years; no one will think anything odd of his sudden desire to try again.

Still, he takes only his own shuttle, and demands a private audience. Organa cannot refuse, even if his wife is a sovereign queen. She sits, regal and beautiful, in a room designed to draw every eye to her most serene countenance. Organa sits beside her, their hands clasped loosely in her lap, and though his face is as inscrutably calm as any Jedi's ever was--Vader cannot forget how close he and Obi-Wan were, and how similar--Vader can feel his tension, taut as a tripwire, and the queen's fear, as sharp in the Force as a needle.

"How may Alderaan serve the Empire today, Lord Vader?" Breha asks, giving him a falsely pleasant smile and gesturing him to a seat.

He prefers to stand.

"You can tell me how you came to be in possession of my daughter."

The Organas exchange a glance, and though their expressions remain placid, Breha's hand tightens around her husband's, and the Force sparks with their terror.

"Excuse me?" she says, her chin held high and firm. 

Vader is reminded of another queen, wise and resolute and dead before her time. His fists clench in rage. "Padmé's daughter," he clarifies tightly. He turns his glare on Organa. "Were you with her when she died?" 

"What are you insinuating?" Breha asks. 

Organa shakes his head almost imperceptibly, cutting her off. His throat works silently for a moment, his fear now tinged with old sorrow. "Yes."

"And Obi-Wan gave you the child." Vader says it flatly. There is no other way it could have happened.

"Yes. For her own protection." From you goes unstated. Organa knows as well as Vader does how Padmé died.

Vader raises a hand and Breha says, "You won't harm him. Or me." Her knuckles are white, her hand clasped so tightly around her husband's it must hurt, but her voice doesn't tremble.

"I won't?"

"Leia would never forgive you." Breha's gaze is unwavering, as direct as if she can see his eyes through the mask. "And if you're here, asking these questions, you desire a relationship with her."

"She is _my daughter_." The vocoder often leaches his voice of inflection, or perhaps he's been indifferent to everything for so long that he'd stopped speaking in anything but a monotone, but now he sounds as passionate as Anakin Skywalker ever had.

Organa scoffs, as if that fact doesn't change _everything_.

"Together, we will be strong enough to overthrow the Emperor."

"And you'll turn our beautiful girl into a monster like you?" Breha says.

"I--" He should kill them both. His Master-- _Kriff_ his Master. Sidious deserves the same scorn Vader has reserved for Obi-Wan these past seventeen years, for perpetrating the same lies, all in the name of keeping him on a leash. Well, no more. "It is the only way to protect her."

"The way it's protected you?" Organa asks, with a piercing look 

Vader opens his mouth, but he has no answer for that. His life is not what he would want for his child. He remembers his mother, suddenly, for the first time in years, resolutely sending him off to freedom despite the sadness in her heart. He cannot do any less for his daughter, and certainly not when it would make him appear inadequate indeed next to the people who raised her.

Breha rises, shaking her head. "No, Lord Vader. Since you have discovered the truth, we cannot keep it--or her--from you, but we will not allow you to ruin her the way Palpatine ruined you."

Vader's brain stumbles for a moment over the ludicrous notion of this frail woman not _allowing_ him to do anything before he fully processes the rest of her words.

"I am more powerful than I have _ever_ been," he insists.

"Then you can overthrow the Emperor on your own, and claim Leia when it's safe," Breha replies implacably.

Vader is reminded once again of why he detests politicians. Still, he's already declared his intent to commit treason, and they are now complicit, even if they weren't a driving force behind the burgeoning Rebel Alliance. And the Force is bright and clear around him, more insistent than it's been in years.

"I have begun making plans," he says after the silence has stretched on too long, punctuated by the sound of his respirator. "It would behoove us to work together to ensure her safety." He hadn't intended to say that, but now that it's out there, it feels right. He will do this for Padmé. For Leia.

"My lord?" Breha says, clearly stunned.

"You don't believe me and I have given you no reason to. But this is not a trap, and I will not betray you to the Emperor." He glances between them, taking in their matching expressions of shock. "I will provide you with classified information, and once you've seen for yourself that I am in earnest, I will return, and meet with Leia."

He nods once, decisively, and Breha has the presence of mind to nod back in agreement. He leaves them with a swirl of his cloak, already planning what intel he can turn over to Organa. 

He will prove both his strength and his fitness to be Leia's father by overthrowing his Master, and placing her on his throne.

end


End file.
